Scott is trying to coordinate a plan with our travel agent to have Sasha and I return to Utah on March 19.  Hopefully, this will follow through(please keep us in your prayers).  When you are a foreigner even for just a short period of time you start realizing how lucky you really are to live in the US.   It has been a truly humbling to experience the cultural differences that are unlike your own.  I am a wee bit homesick, but in less than a week Sasha will unite with me. We will brave the rest of this trip together! If our travel plans can be executed Scott will join us on a connecting flight.

On another note, Sasha is presenting more sides of her.  Yesterday, I got to attend another program Sasha was in.  Afterwards, she ignored me, cried when the caregivers left her with me, and didn't want to participate in any activities together. I was at a loss what to do next. A caregiver gave us a crepe to share, and it was then apparent to me she was incredibly hungry.  In spite of that, the rest of the visit was pleasant. Last night, a caregiver brought out a stroller with a baby in it for Sasha to play with.  Her baby is now included with every activity we do together. She sets the  baby in her stroller, takes it out, talks comforting words with it, kisses it and make sure she is properly snug in the stroller. Sasha is a great mama, and I know what she will be getting for her birthday this month.

Waiting Period...

If all continues to go smoothly we will get the court decree issued on March 9th, and Sasha will then get to leave the Orphanage.  The ten day waiting period feels like it will never arrive soon enough.  I have brought things to occupy my time, and still visit Sasha twice daily.  Our visits together have been quite special. Her favorite thing to do lately is to play tea party with the  stuffed animals and her Kookla(doll).  She will pour me some imaginary tea, and fills hers cup then we both take a sip. Now, the fun starts here.  We have both made up appropriate sound effects with correspondence of the ahhh! part following the sip.  The Ahhhh!!! part is quite dramatic, but giggles continuously flow as we catch one another's eyes.  We have been flipping through the family book daily to help her remember her new relative's names.  She pays special attention to when the pictures of our pug, Suzie appear. Sasha says Suzie's name and then kisses the page. She loves Suzie already! who wouldn't?  A few weeks ago, Scott and I bought her a 30 big piece puzzle of Winnie the Poo and friends .  She seemed interested when we first showed her how it worked, but she didn't quite catch on. Today, this was the first activity we did together and finished.  With a little help from Mom, she is discovering how the pieces work together.  Tonight will be a movie night together...on the laptop, maybe. Instead, it may turn into "Identify the keys of the keyboard night".

Headed home

After an amazing two weeks I am heading home, before we left for Kiev we stopped to visit alex. We colored together and played puzzles until our morning visit was up. Sam and I still have a number of days until she can leave the orphanage. Sam will be staying behind to finalize the paperwork.
Travling to Kiev is a 5 hour drive from our current location. The drive is about as passable as a us forestry service road sprinkled with brightly mozaic tiled bus stops each with a unique flair. As we pass through the various territories there are large monuments to mark the change in boundry. Sam and I have become good friends with our driver. We passed the time by listening and talking about music interests.
When we arrived in Kiev we had just enough time to check in and get some dinner. We said goodbye and Sam began the trek back to our original location. Just a couple more weeks and we will all be home. Thanks everyone for your congradulations and assistance we are so fortunate to have such support.

Scott is on his way headed for the States :( I will stay behind, and wrap up the last of the proceedings.  My hope is that I get to return with Sasha sometime the week of March 13th, but its too early to tell. Sasha and I started the first visit today bundling up and going for a walk on the Orphanage grounds.  It was nice to get out, and we were alone.  We came across objects that were easy to describe in English such as snow, tree, birds, and ice. Afterwards, we went back to the common room, warmed up, and played a game start-to-finish.  Sasha sometimes loses interest half way through the activity, and picks a new one. We finished, put it away, and by that time the visiting hours ended.  Tonight's visit was incredible!  Sasha and I were watching videos together on my laptop. She started pointing to each object on the screen. This is her way of saying, "Whats this?".  Enthusiastically, I proceeded to teach her the English name of the object she  pointed to.  She mimicked each thing I said to the best of her ability. I decided to put a ABC learning DVD in the player. We went through the whole thing together laughing, making sound effects, naming each animal that appeared on the screen, and speaking each letter in the alphabet. I verbally reinforced her with each chance I got. By coincidence, in one of the videos we were viewing there happened to be a scene of a plane taking off, and I spoke pointing to the plane, "There goes papa." She pointed too and replied loudly, "PAPA". She is starting to stare in my eyes, and smile. Her little heart is opening up, and as long as she has her hand in mine, she begins to trust what lies ahead.

It's A Girl

We are now the proud parents of Alexandra Wood. Last night we both spent some time going over our documents and details so we would be ready for court. We were both very nervous going through a court hearing is stressful to begin with, going through a court hearing in a different country added to our stress. The judge was professional and asked important questions of both Sam and I about our daughter's future and well being. At the end of the proceeding we were granted adoption of Alexandra.

Today was probably as close as we will get to the feeling parents describe at the delivery room. Knowing that we will be able to provide a life, a future and a family for Alex is truly an amazing gift. The next chapter in our lives is about to begin, and I dare say that despite the challenges we have had the easy part is almost done. The best is yet to come.

Today we got to join Saschoi and the other kids in a singing program. Near the end of the program, I heard Sashoi point to us and whisper to another kid, "Thats Mama and Papa".  Saschoi is starting to test the boundaries of the relationship.  She had a hard time warming up to Papa today.  The visits consisted of her snubbing him.  We found out near the second visit that keeping verbal communication is important in building the relationship, and it doesn't matter what language you speak.  We ended the final visit with going over a kids Russian bilingual  dictionary with pictures. She pointed at each one wanting to know the English name, as she told us what it was in her language. 

~Sammy

Saschoi is slowly revealing who she really is. Today, we put puzzles together, had tea parties with stuffed animals and her Kukla(doll). We played chase, and watched her go down the indoor play-castle slide. I would tickle her when she met me at the bottom. Anything you could do, to receive a coo :) The caregivers along with our translator, are preparing her for the change a little bit more each day. She freezes up every time something  is spoken of her new journey. I promptly redirect this effect now, and try to be quick witted about doing fun activities together. It helps the mood get more cheerful. The communication barrier started to crack as she responded to my simple spoken phrases in Russian this evening. It ended on a bittersweet note when she felt sad about us leaving.  Tomorrow will mark one week since we have met.

~Sammy